Today is Indigenous People’s Day in Canada, and we here at Roots Music Canada are not celebrating by making a list of Indigenous artists you should check out this year.

It’s not that we couldn’t come up with a few.

More like we couldn’t possibly narrow it down.

What?  We have to pick 10?

Seriously, Indigenous artists are making the most interesting roots music in Canada right now.  Any best-of Canadian roots list is going to be packed with Indigenous acts. Just look at the Junos. Three of the five Contemporary Roots Album of the Year nominees this year were Indigenous: William Prince, Leela Gilday and Julian Taylor. Blues Album of the Year went to Crystal Shawanda, whose album Church House Blues is a masterwork.  And that doesn’t take into account other huge acts in recent years:  William Prince, Jeremy Dutcher, Tom Wilson and the Jerry Cans to name a few.

So instead of trying to make a list of 10 artists you should check out, we’re using today to launch our new Indigenous Renaissance playlist on Spotify. It is named for Jeremy Dutcher’s exclamation as he received the 2018 Polaris Prize: “You are in the midst of an Indigenous renaissance.”  The playlist features nearly four hours of amazing music by Indigenous artists from here in the north of Turtle Island, and it’s by no means exhaustive.  We’ll be adding to it as we realize all the amazing talent we’ve missed and as we discover new artists. Feel free to let us know in the comments who you think should be on here.

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